Have you ever noticed how a single problem can make your whole life feel like it’s falling apart? One setback and suddenly work feels overwhelming, relationships feel fragile and even getting out of bed seems monumental. After more than twelve years as a Neurodiversity Coach and Therapist, supporting neurodivergent people, and through my own experience as someone who is AuDHD, I have learned that this sense of total collapse is often a perception of the experience, rather than the reality. Yes, the challenge that you’re facing may be real. Yes, it may be painful. But, most of you are functioning ...

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As the calendar flips into a new year, there is often an unspoken expectation that we should feel  renewed, motivated and ready to make changes. January is culturally framed as a reset point: a clean  slate, a chance to reinvent ourselves, a moment to commit to ambitious resolutions about  productivity, health, habits or success. This messaging is everywhere, in workplaces, social media and well-meaning conversations about “fresh starts.” 

For many people, this time of year feels very different. Instead of momentum, there may be fatigue.  Instead of clarity, there may be fog. Instead of excitement, there may be pressure, dread or quiet self-criticism for not feeling the way we are apparently supposed to feel. It can be a...

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New Year’s Eve is often marketed as the night of all nights.  A night of joy, celebration, and fresh starts. Loud music. Crowded rooms. Fireworks. Booze. The promise that this is the night that matters.

For many neurodivergent individuals, this night does not feel expansive or hopeful. It feels demanding. What is presented as celebration can quickly become an exercise in endurance, as sensory overload, social performance, financial pressure and disrupted routines converge in a single evening. 

In my work as a neurodiversity coach and therapist, I meet many individuals who dread New Year’s Eve ...

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As December disappears at rapid speed and we hurtle towards the “main event” of the season, many of us, especially those who are neurodivergent, feel a familiar sense of dread rising in our chests. The festive season can be jubilant, but it can also thrust us back into old family dynamics, long-forgotten roles and the emotional dance of earlier versions of ourselves.

If you’ve ever walked through your family’s front door and suddenly felt twelve years old again, you’re in good company. For me, I was an eternal 15-year-old, not dissimilar to Kevin and Perry. 

Now that I am more fully embracing my adult self and working as a therapist and coach, I offer ...

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If you have clicked on this article, chances are you are already feeling it, that creeping sense of dread as Christmas approaches. The weight of expectations about what the festive season should look like. The mental rehearsal of family dynamics, sensory overwhelm, small talk with distant relatives, and the pressure to appear joyful when you are actually counting down the hours until you can retreat back to your own space. 

I have always found it strange how, on Christmas Day, people suddenly behave differently, and no one ever mentions it. It becomes a sort of social murder mystery: who is genuine, and who is performing?

Here’s the truth: if part of you doesn’t want to follo...

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Not all  challenges we experience as neurodivergent individuals can be attributed to our neurodivergence. 

As both a neurodivergent person and a Neurodiversity Specialist, I am careful not to ascribe every difficulty to neurodivergence alone. Doing so risks overlooking critical factors, elements that are often essential to understanding why certain strategies or interventions have failed. 

Neurodiversity provides a powerful foundation for understanding ourselves, yet it is not exhaustive. Where medical professionals have identified additional factors, or where other complexities are evident, it i...

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Do you ever leave work feeling utterly drained, wondering why everyone else seems to cope so easily? For many neurodivergent people, whether autistic, ADHD, dyslexic, dyspraxic, or otherwise wired differently, the modern workplace can feel like an unspoken maze of rules, noise, and expectations that were never designed with your brain in mind.

As a neurodivergent therapist and neurodiversity coach at Zoe Clewes & Associates, I frequently support clients in navigating their workplace needs. I see bright, capable people who give everything at work yet feel constantly on the edge of burnout. And it’s not because they’re failing, it’s bec...

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Every so often, a new term takes the stage in neurodiversity discourse. Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria. Revenge Bedtime Procrastination. Pathological Demand Avoidance. Time Agnosia.

And every time, the same debate erupts: Are we creating helpful frameworks for understanding, or are we just pathologising normal human experiences? Are we giving people language to describe their reality, or are we encouraging them to pathologise themselves? And don’t we have enough words already for the exact same things?

I think ...

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Telling someone you’re neurodivergent can feel like a huge leap into the unknown. Will they understand? Will they be supportive? Or will they dismiss your experience entirely?

Whether you’ve been recently diagnosed with ADHD, autism, or another form of neurodivergence, or have come to understand your ND-self through self-identification, deciding who to tell, how, and when is deeply personal. For many, it’s a milestone that brings relief, vulnerability, and fear all at once.

As a neurodivergent therapist and neurodiversity coach at Zoe Clews & Associates, I support clients navigating the co...

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Have you ever wondered why some people seem to struggle more than others with workplace stress or conflict, even when nothing “big” has happened? Trauma is not about what happens to us, it’s about how we process it and the impact it has on us later on. 

70% of people will experience something as being traumatic in their lifetime and that means consequences down the line for our mental wellbeing. Autistic people and those with other neurodivergent conditions (ADHD, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia and related) have neurodevelopmental differences that compound this and 80% of neurodivergent people will in any case have a co-occurring everyday mental health condition such as anxiety, depression and OCD.

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